Jeremiah 2:12

Jer 2:12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.

Ver. 12. Be astonished, O heavens!] A poetic and pathetic expression. Compare Deu 32:1 Isa 1:2.

Be horribly afraid.] Horripilamini portento malitiae, quod iam dicturus sum; be aghast at such a prodigious wickedness.

Be very desolate.] As the sun seemed to be, when at the death of Christ he hid his head in a mantle of black, which made, they say, {a} the heathen astrologer break out into these words, Either the God of nature suffereth, or else the world is at an end.

{a} Dionys.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 2:12-13. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this — A pathetical expression, in the poetic style, signifying that the wickedness of these apostates from God was so great, that the very inanimate creatures, could they be sensible of it, might well stand amazed at it: that the heavens might be affrighted to behold it, and the celestial bodies withdraw their light and influences from that part of the world where such enormities were practised. “Such rhetorical apostrophes import the unusualness, and likewise the indignity, of the things spoken of; implying them to be such that, if men take no notice of them, the elements themselves will testify against such practices.” — Lowth. See note on Isa 1:2. For my people have committed two evils — Two remarkable evils, ingratitude and folly: they have acted contrary both to their duty and to their interest; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters — In whom they had an abundant and constant supply of all that comfort and relief they stood in need of, and had it freely; and hewed them out cisterns — Have had recourse to creatures, and to schemes of their own devising; to gods of their own making, for relief in their necessities, for deliverance out of, or support and comfort in, their troubles. Broken cisterns — False at the bottom, and leaky, so that they can hold no water — They have acted as foolishly as persons would do who should reject the waters of a clear, perpetual spring, to drink rain-water, received in cisterns, which could neither be so sweet nor so wholesome as that of pure springs; and not only so, but should betake themselves to such cisterns as, being broken, could hold no water, or none for any length of time, and therefore could give them no assurance of finding any upon having recourse to them. God may, indeed, be justly compared to a perpetual spring, as he is the fountain or origin of all good things; the author and giver of all blessings, both spiritual and temporal, from whom all good gifts are derived, as from an inexhaustible source; see Psa 36:9. “And wherever else men place their happiness, whether in false religions, or in the uncertain comforts of worldly blessings, they will find themselves as wretchedly disappointed as those who expect to find water in broken cisterns or conduits. Hereby is strongly set forth the folly of the Jews in renouncing the worship of the true God, and their dependance upon him, and betaking themselves to the worship of idols, and the alliance and protection of idolaters.” — Lowth.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:12 The heavens and the earth are often portrayed as witnesses to events among humans (see 51:48; Deut 32:1, 43; 1 Chr 16:31; Ps 96:11; Isa 1:2; 44:23; 49:13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He showeth that the insensible creatures abhor this vile ingratitude, and as it were tremble for fear of God’s great judgments against the same.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Impassioned personification (Isa 1:2).

horribly afraid--rather, be horrified."

be . . . very desolate--rather, "be exceedingly aghast" at the monstrous spectacle. Literally, "to be dried up," or "devastated," (places devastated have such an unsightly look) [MAURER].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. Be astonished, O ye heavens] Or, the heavens are astonished. The original will admit either sense. The conduct of this people was so altogether bad, that among all the iniquities of mankind, neither heaven nor earth had witnessed any thing so excessively sinful and profligate.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

When the Prophet saw that he had to do with besotted men, almost void of all reason, he turned to address the heavens: and it is a way of speaking, common in the Prophets, — that they address the heaven and the earth, which have no understanding, and leave men endued with reason and knowledge. This they were wont to do in hopeless cases, when they found no disposition to learn.

Hence now the Prophet bids the heavens to be astonished and to be terrified and to be reduced as it were unto desolation; as though he had said, “This is a wonder, which almost confounds the whole order of nature; it is the same as though we were to see heaven and earth mixed together.” We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet: for by this representation he intended to shew, how detestable was the impiety of the people, since the heavens, though destitute of reason, ought justly to dread such a monstrous thing.

As to the words, some render them, “Be desolate, ye heavens,” and then repeat the same: but as שמם shemem, means to be astonished, the rendering I have given suits the present passage better, “Be astonished, ye heavens, for this,” and then, “be ye terrified and dried up;” for: חרב chareb, signifies to become dry, and sometimes, to be reduced to a solitude or a waste. It afterwards follows: —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(12) Be astonished, O ye heavens.—The adjuration had been made familiar by a like utterance in Isa_1:2; Deut. 32 1 “Astonished”—in the old sense, “thunder-stricken,” stupefied. The whole universe is thought of as shocked and startled at the offence against its Creator.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. be ye very desolate] lit. be ye dry. The heavens are bid to shrivel up in horror at the behaviour of the people. By a figure common in all poetry nature is called upon to adapt herself, as though a living being, to the complexion of human affairs. By a slight alteration of MT., however, we get (instead of “be ye very desolate”) the rendering of LXX, viz. exceedingly, as an epithet of the preceding verb. Render therefore, Shudder exceedingly. Cp. Psa_50:4; Psa_50:6; Isa_44:23; Isa_49:13.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For my people have committed two evils,.... Not but that they had committed more, but there were two principal ones they were guilty of, hereafter mentioned; and it was an aggravation of these crimes, that they were the professing people of God who had committed them: and it may be observed, that such sin; they are not without it, nor the commission of it; and may be left to fall into great sins, and yet remain his people; covenant interest cannot be dissolved; this should be considered not as an encouragement to sin, but as a relief under a sense of sin:

they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters; this is said of Christ, Sol 4:15, grace in him is compared to "water", it being cooling and refreshing, cleansing and fructifying; and to living water, because it quickens dead sinners, revives drooping saints, supports and maintains spiritual life, and issues in eternal life; and because it is perpetual and ever flowing; and to a "fountain", denoting that the original of it is in Christ, and the great abundance of it which is in him; it is as water in a fountain, in us as in streams: now to forsake this fountain is the first of these evils; which is done when the people of God are remiss in the exercise of faith on Christ; grow cold in their affections to him, and neglect his word and ordinances.

And hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water; this is the other evil; and such are the world, and the things in it, when cleaved unto, and rest and satisfaction are taken in them; the inventions and ordinances of men, when followed and attended to; moral duties, and evangelical services, when depended on; and even spiritual frames, when these are lived upon, and put in the room of Christ; yea, acts of faith, when they are rested in, and the object not so much regarded as should be: moreover, what may principally be intended are, in the first place, forsaking the worship of God, as the Targum interprets it, the assembling of themselves together to attend his service and ordinances, which is to forsake their own mercies; and, in the next place, following after idols, as the same paraphrase explains it, which have no divinity in them, and can yield no help and relief, or give any comfort, or afford any supply in time of distress and need. It is egregious folly to leave a fountain for a cistern, and especially a broken one: in a fountain the water is living, and always running, and ever springing up; not so in a cistern, and in a broken cistern there is none at all.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Be astonished - The King James Version uses this word as equivalent “to be stupefied.”

Desolate - Or, “be dry.” In horror at Israel’s conduct the heavens shrivel and dry up.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Gates; angels, or the temple.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Be astonished, O ye heavens; angels, say some, but rather the visible heavenly bodies; a pathetical expression in a poetical prosopopoeia, as Deu 4:26; 32:1, intimating that it is such a tiring that the very inanimate creatures, could they be sensible of it, would be astonished.

Be horribly afraid; the Hebrew imports as much as,

let your hair be lifted up; such a fright, as we usually say, makes our hair stand on end; such a trembling as some dreadful tempest doth sometimes cause in a man. Be ye very desolate; lose your brightness, lustre, and shining, as the sun, that heavenly body, seemed to do when Christ suffered, Mat 27:45; or melting, the heinousness of such a thing, as it were, dissolving them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Be astonished, O ye heavens — Still further to suggest that which is essentially unspeakable, the prophet employs an apostrophe. He calls upon the “heavens” to “be astonished” at the fearfulness of this crime. Not (as Keil) because here the glory of God is most reflected, nor (as Nagelsbach) because “they can behold and compare all that takes place;” but because they are most beyond the reach of earthly changes, and hence, if they express astonishment, it is the most emphatic expression possible. The terms employed show the struggle of the writer for emphasis. Be astonished,… be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be astonished. "Be appalled" would more nearly express the force of the Hebrew. (so Jer_18:16 Jer_19:8) Be ye very desolate; literally, become dry; i.e. not so much "shrivel and roll up", (on the analogy Isa_34:4) as "become stiff with horror."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

O ye heavens - A pathetical expression, intimating that it is such a thing, that the very inanimate creatures, could they be sensible of it, would be astonished. Be desolate - Lose your brightness, as the sun seemed to do when Christ suffered.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Shudder, heavens, because of this! Be shocked and horrified

Yahweh turns and talks to the heavens as if they were there listening to him. God says this to express that what Israel has done is terrible. (See: Apostrophe)

Shudder, heavens, because of this! Be shocked and horrified

Possible meanings are 1) God speaks to the creatures in the heavens or 2) God speaks to the heavens themselves as if they were people. (See: Personification)

this is Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

have abandoned the springs of living waters

God speaks of himself as if he were springs of living waters. AT: "have abandoned me, their springs of living waters" or "have abandoned me, who is like springs of living water" (See: Metaphor)

have dug out cisterns for themselves

God speaks of false gods as if they were cisterns that people dig in order to get water. AT: "have gone to false gods, which are like cisterns they have dug for themselves" (See: Metaphor)

cisterns

deep holes for storing water

translationWords

heaven

horror

commit

evil

fountain

cistern

water

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

O heavens, be astonished Heb. שמו, an expression of astonishment, like השתוממוּ. It is the imperative form, with the same vowel points as (I Sam. 14:9): “If they say thus to us, “Wait (דּמּוּ).”

and storm Heb. ושערו, an expression of סער, a storm.

become very desolate As though you are becoming desolate because of the Temple that is destined to be destroyed.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.